San Francisco Kearny Street Workshop, the oldest Asian Pacific American multidisciplinary arts organization in the country, celebrated its 40th birthday with Runway 2012 on Sept. 8 at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center in Oakland.

Debbie Nghiem showed the latest from her 4-year-old avant-garde line GG Connections, which mixes East and West style. Nghiem, a self-taught designer, is involved in multiple charities, including her own nonprofit, United Vietnamese Americans, which works to provide scholarship money for students. Jewelry maker Clare Morales of Clara Designs was the evening’s only accessories designer, showing body chains. Inspired by her love of all things Egyptian and myth related, Morales was struck by the idea to create body chains when she noticed her young son playing around with one of her chains and admired the manner in which it draped on his body. She hoped to inspire attendees of the show to “not be afraid to try something new.”

Other designers included recent Academy of Art graduate Jeanette Au, who is known for her knitwear and was inspired by the Russian ballets that traveled the world in the early 20th century; KT Reed of KTRCollection, who describes her line as “sexy and celebrating womanhood”; and Kim Shao, whose collection, Typography, contained four pieces each inspired by a font: Helvetica, Bodoni, Kabel and Rockwell. Proceeds from a live clothing and accessories auction benefited the arts group.